What would happen if MNZ disappeared?

[FROSTY:Me]

Throwing a question out there. If MNZ ceased to exist what effect would it have on bike racing in New Zealand?
Theres some pretty clear cut answers re race licences and sponsorship of international riders.
But what if we went to opperating directly under FIM?
throwing the idea out there for discussion.

[moT]

The Anti-Christ would be born!

[scott411]

you can not operate under the FIM, everybody has to go though thier national federation, if MNZ dissappered our international national riders would have to ride under a different country, Aussie for England i prusume would be the easy ones,

also if thier were no national body thier would be even more split in the rules, one club would run something a bit different than the others, and bikes would be legal in some races and not others, i think it would be worse than it is now,

[scrivy]

Why can't MNZ simply hold more regular discussion groups with interested parties to formulate the way forward?
Waiting a year just lets things stagnate, or worse, brew over and cause grief!
Why cant reps from all the classes attend meetings with MNZ officials at various times of the year, to tell them what their class wants!! After all, MNZ just governs what it thinks we want. How about it govern what we actually want?! The way forward is not too hard. Communication is the key in any industry/business/venture or organisation.
This has to be a 2-way street.

As I understand it, there has never been discussion about race dates, venues, formats, race lengths, classes etc. with any of the current road racers. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Scrivy

[sidecar bob]

I assume you guys read Animal Farm.

[scrivy]

you can not operate under the FIM, everybody has to go though thier national federation, if MNZ dissappered our international national riders would have to ride under a different country, Aussie for England i prusume would be the easy ones,

I understand Stacey Sellar raced his sidecar over here on a NZ licence, not an international one?? He still got to race here, and race in Australia on his Aussie one did he not??

[Deano]

Is the problem MNZ or the people that work there and the organisation 'culture' ?

E.g hanging up the phone on one of your paying members (Club not racer) is not conducive to the fostering of the sport IMO

[scrivy]

I assume you guys read Animal Farm.

Beast you stay on topic Bob......

[FROSTY:Me]

What would happen if race dates for the nationals were booked NOW for the 09 nats?

[sidecar bob]

What would happen if race dates for the nationals were booked NOW for the 09 nats?

I think it would result in competitors being able to get their shit organised good & early.

[scott411]

I understand Stacey Sellar raced his sidecar over here on a NZ licence, not an international one?? He still got to race here, and race in Australia on his Aussie one did he not??

i know australia and nz have a specail agreement, i know aussie riders can ride meetings here on aussie licences, with proof of insurance,

and i know you can apply for a mnz licence on a aussie passport with our border laws, you are not ment ot have both at licences at once, but i know other riders that have bent the laws to suit themselves as well, its one of the areas that is very hard to police

[ajturbo]

i know australia and nz have a specail agreement, i know aussie riders can ride meetings here on aussie licences, with proof of insurance,

and i know you can apply for a mnz licence on a aussie passport with our border laws, you are not ment ot have both at licences at once, but i know other riders that have bent the laws to suit themselves as well, its one of the areas that is very hard to police

And the Aussie's got to race FREE!!!... how the hell does THAT work??

the boys that went over to aussie late last year had to pay....

but what would happen if we got rid of mnz??

shaun would be wasting his time..lol

we do need a governing body, but we also need one that LISTENS to us ( well maybe not me, but guys who KNOW what they are talking about)

but we ALSO need room to move in our race clubs...

ie: the Vic club's inclusion of the 250's in streetstock...( it is OUR race meeting!!)

there should be separate mnz for dirt and road raceing...

[idleidolidyll]

as noted, you'd have to have another organisation instead that was affiliated to the FIM.

however, there's nothing to stop organisers running their own meetings outside MNZ.

Of course MNZ would likely blacklist them so it might only be for those of us who don't give a damn about racing overseas or in MNZ organised meetings.

BEARs seriously considered this for a while and MNZ softened up on them a bit (given it's massive popularity).

Sadly I think it is a culture issue. I know Pav pretty well and he's a good bloke with his heart in the right place.

It'd be hard for one man to make fundamental change within MNZ and it might be that the way its structured prevents such change.

I don't see that MNZ has really served its members and prospective members well for a long time. Without knowing the intimate motivations of the organisation and staff, it has always seemed to have served the sponsors and race organisers first and second and the riders/prospective riders last.

I'm sure they'll disagree of course but there ya go; that's been my experience and impression over the last 30 years in MX and road racing.

[idleidolidyll]

By the way, probably the largest group of newcomers to road racing in the last few years are the riders of motards and they don't even have a representative!

In fact, I reckon they've been treated like leppers.

Great for the sport? nope

great PR for new members? nope

[Grub]

Why can't MNZ simply hold more regular discussion groups with interested parties to formulate the way forward?

Nice to see some positive questions rather than a "them n us" discussion.

If the clubs talk to each other (I bet they don't) they could certainly influence how MNZ operates. Regular discussions are easy aren't they. We have a national series that visits all the regions over the summer. It wouldn't be hard to have a half-day meeting either on the Thu/Fri or Monday around the meeting.

Have a structured agenda, with discussion topics decided in advance by input from clubs (as the rider reps), sponsors, promoters and circuits. Stick to that agenda, keep the discussions on topic and get some of the issues aired and action-pointed afterwards. These could be called the "Annual Motorcycling Symposia" and be given formal status as the forum that defines the guiding principles for the sport in the year to come. Annual conferences don't really work - people make 'presentations' and don't really want discussions about them.

What you can't have, which is why MNZ's job is nearly impossible, is to try and manage a thousand different opinions, ideas and agendas. That's how it is now and all MNZ can do is put up barriers to stop individuals bombarding them with "their" idea of how the sport should be run. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

There is a catch. It requires riders and clubs to be organised and professional in formulating discussion points and agenda items and to agree on the outcomes. And most importantly, they can't moan about having to get to the circuit a day earlier/later. They either want their say or they don't - HTFU.